Authors
Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.
Claim
The United States of America threatened Iraq with Coronavirus in 1990.
Listen to Saddam Hussein was in a 1990 meeting with his cabinet, telling them how America was threatening Iraq with Corona Virus. This prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Corvid-19 is a US biological weapon. pic.twitter.com/ZojPlcc5bw
— African Revolt (@Africarevolt) March 17, 2020
Verification
Amid panic over the novel coronavirus, several rumor-mongering messages and graphics are doing the rounds on various social media platforms. Among them is a video of Iraq’s former President Saddam Hussein claiming that the United States of America threatened Iraq with Coronavirus in 1990 and COVID19 is their biological weapon.
Twitter user African Revolt shared the viral video. The text reads, “Listen to Saddam Hussein. He was convening a meeting with his cabinet in 1990, telling them how America has threatened Iraq with CoronaVirus. This proves that Corvid-19 is a US biological weapon”
Listen to Saddam Hussein was in a 1990 meeting with his cabinet, telling them how America was threatening Iraq with Corona Virus. This prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Corvid-19 is a US biological weapon. pic.twitter.com/ZojPlcc5bw
— African Revolt (@Africarevolt) March 17, 2020
We found that several users shared the viral video on Facebook and Twitter. The viral video was also sent by several readers to Newschecker’s WhatsApp helpline number for verification.
Listen to Saddam Hussein was in a 1990 meeting with his cabinet, telling them how America was threatening Iraq with Corona Virus. This prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Corvid-19 is a US biological weapon.@dawisu @BashirAhmaad @DrEOEhanire #CONVID19 #CoronaVirusUpdate pic.twitter.com/MwmQMKvaOu
— Major Gen. Wazirin Buhari (@WazirinBuhari) March 18, 2020
Listen to Saddam Hussein was in a 1990 meeting with his cabinet, telling them how America was threatening Iraq with Corona Virus. This prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Corvid-19 is a US biological weapon. pic.twitter.com/UisB0eCDsR
— Hustan (@Hustan13) March 17, 2020
Fact Check:
With the help of ‘InVid’, we got multiple keyframes of the video. By using a reverse-image search on one of the keyframes, we found a video uploaded on the YouTube channel ‘AP Archive’. The video was uploaded on 21st July 2015. We analyzed the viral video and the video uploaded on YouTube from frame to frame and established that it is the same video doing rounds on social media.
Furthermore, when we listened to the YouTube video, we found that Saddam Hussein did not use the word “coronavirus” in 1990 whereas when we listen to the viral video, we can hear the virus word multiple times.
We also compared the YouTube video with the viral footage and found that the 2:03 minute-long viral video has repeated visuals taken from the original footage. Also, the voice of Saddam Hussein in the original footage does not match with one in the viral video.
Meanwhile, we also checked the YouTube video’s description. According to the AP Archive description, Saddam Hussein said, “If God wills it and we have to run after the enemy, then we will do it.” Also, in AP’s description, we found that Saddam Hussein did not refer to the word ‘Coronavirus’ in the original video.
Conclusion:
It is evident from our fact check that the video doing the rounds on social media claiming that the US had threatened Iraq with Coronavirus in 1990 and COVID19 is their biological weapon is edited and is false.
Sources
- InVid
- Google Search
- Twitter Search
- Google Reverse Image Search
Result: False
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Authors
Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.
